How to Organize Your Tutorial Sessions with Kanban

Teachers are the spine of society. They shape future generations, arguably even more than parents. There is a theory that children spend more time in school than at home. Though that is obviously a myth, children do spend a vast amount of their wake hours at school, highlighting the importance and the impact teachers have on children, teenagers, and adults alike. 

If you currently dislike your job and crave something more flexible and direct, tutoring may be the direction you should go in for your career change at 30. Tutoring is a lighter, privatized form of teaching and is open to everyone and every subject. 

The difference between a teacher and a tutor isn’t simply that tutors take on individual or small groups of people compared to teachers taking on over 20 students. Teachers also need strict qualifications earned through university to pursue their careers, whereas tutors can simply get training or freelance with enough confidence, work expertise, and passion. 

The field of tuition is growing massively ever since lockdowns happened and most jobs switched online, including academia. With the rise in work hours and the busy schedules everyone has, the flexibility tutoring offers has been nothing but popular. 

People have also been pursuing their hobbies and interests more, meaning tutors in topics such as art or languages have increased. The global tutoring market has increased to over  $123 billion thanks to this and is anticipated to reach over $200 billion by 2026. The increasing need for education due to population growth has necessitated individual solutions, thus, tutoring became the answer.

Another factor in the increase in tutoring is the heightened competition we see in academia. Students need to do more to excel, and adults are more likely to keep learning which makes the diversification of tertiary methods for learning essential in our current society. Certification courses have also become popular as a byproduct of this social phenomenon.  

Many schools and universities have also become privatized to achieve stronger academic rankings. This also increases the need for tutoring to supplement academic performance. All of these reasons underline how stable and comfortable this career path can be. 

What is Tutoring?

We’ve established that tutoring isn’t the same as teaching, and that is why it has become so popular lately. Firstly, let’s talk about what tutoring is defined as. We’ve also mentioned the flexibility it provides but let’s expand on how it specifically is ideal for anyone seeking a second job or one that doesn’t conform to the average nine to five. 

Tutoring is teaching with a method where you are trying to refine the problem-solving skills of a student while also increasing their confidence in the subject. Your task is to make them know and understand the content you are teaching them. This happens on a more one-to-one level rather than with a group. 

Everyone’s commencement on their tutoring journey is different. Some continue straight from university to tutoring, whereas others usually volunteer at different organizations to gain expertise. People who become successful in tutoring have been shown to have a tendency to teach or help others during their academic years, already giving them premature practice. 

Many people go through difficult experiences with children who are in desperate need of academic assistance to further their schooling. Such shortcomings can be caused by learning disabilities, difficulties in their private lives, or general academic neglect. For a lot of tutors, experiences such as these are what turned them toward this career. 

Most schools are also overpopulated with students, making it harder for teachers to focus on the individual student’s needs which is where tutors come in. Overall, it can be said tutors are a societal necessity. 

Skills You Need for Tutoring

The most important skill you need for tutoring is strong, clear verbal and non-verbal communication. Being able to make a student feel safe and supported in their learning environment should be a priority. Habits you should incorporate are smiling at answers to show support, maintaining clear and intent eye contact to show you’re listening, and so on. 

Verbal communication doesn’t just mean knowing information on the subject you’re teaching. It goes beyond that. Speaking clearly and having an organized and inquiring way of speaking are important to keep students engaged. You can easily organize your teaching plan and communication using Kanban. 

Kanban is a flow system management platform that has been created to be a versatile and easy-to-use method for organization, structure, communication, scheduling, and more. We’ll be diving into the methods of using Kanban for tutoring further after talking about the attributes you will need for tutoring.

Check out the Kanban Zone’s Education Kanban Solution and Template

Be open with your students about your experiences and opinions to create a safe space for them to share their thoughts as well. Don’t be afraid to admit when you don’t know something too. This allows your students to see a positive example of wanting to learn more and not knowing something, especially if you look into it during or after the study session. 

Be transparent with your students on the studying process and what study plan you will be following so they can prepare ahead. Making clear boundaries also helps the teaching process flow more effortlessly.

It is also smart to talk to fellow tutors, professors, and other academics about students and teaching methods. Often, teachers can provide helpful insight into how a student acts and where their weaknesses lie within a certain subject or behavior. Make sure to also discuss progress as well so your student’s other teachers can also know about it. 

Kanban for Organization and Scheduling

Kanban has software that functions as an online bulletin board to optimize workflow and detect issues with efficiency and management. This framework not only tracks progress but also keeps everything categorized. The categories for cards are as follows: to do, in progress, and completed.

The platform is colorful and modern-looking, making the tracking of tasks eye-catching and easy to follow. It is especially optimal for one-on-one meetings, which is what more tutoring sessions are as well. This platform supports virtual collaboration between tutors and students to facilitate the learning and teaching processes alike.

The platform consists of boards, cards, and columns. Each column is a day of the week that soon becomes filled with cards. These cards can range from tasks to lesson files needed for that day. The cards are not just titled but also color-coded by importance, making the prioritizing process much easier. 

What makes this platform special is its use of boards on their platform. Each Kanban board can be used for one project, or in the case of tuition, as one section of the lesson plan. This provides you and your student an oversight for the upcoming weeks and also provides reminders for homework or studying ahead. 

You can also add tags or labels to add to your cards so you can remind your students, organize who is doing what, or add the level of difficulty to tasks. 

Everyone can get notifications through Kanban apps for reminders or set due dates on tasks. If you ever find your students start forgetting their homework or they didn’t prepare for a quiz, you can always remind them through this platform.

Read about Kanban Zone’s Learning Education Agile Framework

With Kanban, you also always get easy access to any work in progress to track your and your student’s work as they go, on the go. You have the option to restrict certain WIPs, so your student knows what to prioritize when learning and doing homework.

Kanban’s calendar feature can also be very helpful when being a tutor. The streamlining of classes and tasks makes for a more efficient workflow between you and your student. It is important to meet deadlines so the study plan can keep moving, and the access Kanban provides to every member invited to the board enhances that efficiency. 

How to Maintain Order While Using Kanban

The first step is to prepare all materials in advance. This means having a study plan ready for a student from start to almost finish so you can focus on teaching and grading rather than preparing. 

As a tutor, you will soon realize every student is different regardless of age. Adapting to different workstyles and seeing what works with who makes a huge difference in study progress for your students and for your job as well. Kanban allows for a customizable and comfortable space online where you can organize and modify it accordingly.

Using Kanban’s integration features also helps maintain order since the platform can sync with Google or Gmail for not only smooth workflow but also clear delivery of different information, from reminders to comments. 

Final Thoughts

Tutoring can be extremely difficult with the wrong resources, but there are solutions that are so good they are almost made for this line of work. The aim of tutoring is for your student to have a goal they want to reach, and it is your duty to help them reach it. With time and persistence, not only will your students reach their goals, but you will also learn new things about this line of work.